The Myth of Gurren Lagaan
by ayaheartright
Summary: 1000 years has past since Team Dai Gurren defeated the Anti-Spirals and Viral finds a book at the library that prompts him to look back at his past. One-shot. A look at the meaning of Gurren Lagann and how the simple question "what is a human," changed Viral's life forever. Pairing is Viral as he talks to a talks to a long past Simon


_The Myth of Gurren Lagaan_

Viral placed the book back on the cramped shelf of Kamina city's main library where it sat next to other folklore such as King Arthur, Robin Hood, and the Arabian Nights. He scoffed, all these things he had seen come to pass but none pissed him off more than Team Dai Gurren's triumphs being lessened to nothing more than a bedtime story for children. Maybe it was just his ego-centric attachment to the whole thing since the bastardisation of other history didn't bother him much.

"Stupid humans." He mumbled and he walked out into the rain. Drops hit his hood as he walked through the busy streets in a daze. A thousand years has come and gone since the Spiral King gave him immortality. The first few hundred went by slowly, as he became part of the family of misfits who broke free to create their own destiny. He became an uncle to Dayakka and Kiyoh's little girl, a great uncle to her children, and even a great-great uncle. Gimmy and Dari's descendants loved him as well but after awhile they became distant.

Over time the younger generations began to forget those who came before them and since he was the only beastman with immortality, his kin died out quickly with the lack of reproduction skills. His story became less and less credible over time, no one believed him anymore. Even his appearance was a lie to these modern humans, a "halloween costume."

"Oh how the mighty have fallen, Simon. I am a walking freak and you are nothing more than a figment of a creative writer's imagination."

The door creaked as he entered his tiny cabin in the countryside. It was still closer to town than many other commuters' homes, but thankfully or not, he had lived in the same home long enough to grandfather in a large enough plot of land to have a large self sustaining farm but still be within a days walk to the city. He could acquire some sort of automobile since his previous one died centuries ago but with an eternity lifespan there was no rush.

Viral poured himself a cup of mud, slang stemming from Kamina's question of coffee being dirty water. He was suprised that the term stuck considering that the term "mecha" wasn't even used anymore. Pushing a stack of books to the side, he sat on his couch to look through his recent finds at the library. The chances of him reading any of them were slim. After living for so long, there wasn't much more a beastman could learn. A particular book that he had picked up from religion section caught his eye.

_What is Spiral Power and What Does it Mean_

"If you could answer that question, friend, you would be on the same page as every other enlightened thinker before you." He opened the book and began to read. Was Kamina enlightened? Was Simon? They certainly said some beautiful words but what did it give them? Kamina and Simon were both dead. One going out at the end of a great battle but both ended up in unmarked graves that had long disappeared.

Viral wondered why he still bothered with all of this. Why he still thought of them, why he stayed near the city, why he still searched for the answer. His questioning did nothing but lead to more questions until he thought he finally found the answer. "What is a Human?" He asked that question so long ago and since he had come to the conclusion that a human is a mass of cells that creates a body. End of story. Some sources say that the body is just a shell, though, and that a human is really a manifestation of Spiral Power, but this seemed unlikely considering that humans didn't even know what Spiral Power IS so how could they say anything about it?

Over the years there have been great men and women that tried to explain what Spiral Power was and even he, who was so close to it, didn't understand. "Is this my curse as a beastman?" He thought to himself as he continued to read. Every text said the same thing. It didn't matter when or where it was written, the ancient texts said the same thing as the new age books that started coming out. It was a drabble, fluffy words with no real meaning as far as Viral was concerned or it was dogmatic trash that did nothing but put humanity into the ground again.

Wait. If humans didn't understand Spiral Power then it couldn't just be something that made humans different than beastman, but also something that made humans different than other humans. "But Boota had spiral power too... and sometimes when I am in my gardens I see the same swirl, the same light, from nature as what I saw coming from Simon..."

_"You know why people have eyes in the front? Because they have to move forward to see the landscape in the distance. If you had eyes in back all you could see is your home town getting farther away; you can't move forward like that. If your eyes are in front what you see in the distance keeps getting closer. That's what lets people move forward."_

Viral blinked a few times and set the book down with a confused look on his face. The only person he had ever heard say that was Yoko when he had visited her in her late age. She had told him of how no matter how hard she tried, she would always love Kamina. He was the driving force in her life and the author of the words she could never forget. She didn't have any kids though, besides her students, so where did this quote come from? Who else would know it and who in this time would believe that it was real?

The door creaked again as he stepped outside. Two fighting roosters caught Viral's attention for a moment before he passed them. Passing by varieties of fruits, vegetables, and animals, Viral walked until he sat down in front of his main pond. The water that gave life to all of the vegetation in the area. The sun was setting. There was a time when this would mean his retreat since being out at night was forbidden to him at that time. He gazed at it until it was under the horizon and then he laid down on his back to gaze up at the stars.

"I read a long time ago that ancient societies believed that both, their ancestors and descendants, live in the stars, Simon. Tell me, are you up there? Do you have the answer for me yet? 'What is a human'? I don't think I will be able to die until I have the answer."

Viral laughed for a long while, at first a small chuckle and then turning into a loud booming laugh of someone who is about to lose their mind. When he finally stopped he gasped... it was as if he was looking at the night sky for the first time. Spirals. Spirals were everywhere. He turned onto his side and squinted to look at the flowers swaying in the wind next to him. Spiral. The snail sitting on the rock on his other side, spiral. The water? He looked closely. Spirals. He stood up and looked all around him in a frenzy. Spirals, spirals, spirals, spirals. He knew it. He knew it wasn't just for humans! Then... what were spirals for?

He wanted to run back into his cabin and find that book, but something was stopping him. Don't look back, don't worry about what-ifs, create your own destiny. Spirals are creation and creation wasn't just for humans, it wasn't just for the physical world. Otherwise, what are thoughts? What are words? Viral felt sick but at the same time like a weight was being lifted off him, as if he could breathe for the first time in his long life. His chest started pounding and a faint green glow could be seen shining from it.

"Spiral Power isn't within any one thing. Spiral Power is what binds the universe together, it is only our acknowledgement and use of it that sets us apart from anything else. In the end it's all the same." He whispered to himself as tears poured down his cheeks. Beastman had always had It because otherwise they couldn't have ever existed. "It's the creation that moves forward, yet in stillness is the only way it manifests to it's full potential. Maybe those damn monkeys were right blazing forward without any thought. Relying only on their intuition."

He laid down on the ground again and thought of the unmarked graves of his comrades. "What difference does it make? It's all the same. Spiral Power just is. Whether there's a monument or not makes no difference in the end. You're only a digger and maybe that's the most noble path of all."

In that moment that Viral finally found life and was able to rest because there was no longer a fear of death.

_**Open Your Third Eye, Seeing Through The Overground... ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWA**_


End file.
